Preservation of quantum coherence after exciton-exciton interaction in quantum wells

Abstract

The dynamics of exciton-exciton interaction in quantum wells has been investigated by monitoring the time-resolved resonant secondary emission that follows excitation with linearly and circularly polarized light. Preservation of quantum beating in the cross-polarized emission demonstrates that spin relaxation can take place, for some scattering channels, without total quantum coherence loss. Interexciton electron exchange is the scattering mechanism that explains the persistence of the beating and, since it is sensitive to the fine structure of excitons, the shift by pi in the phase of the beating observed in the experiment.